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Seneca
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Paradise, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Gender, Race, and Power
Community
Motherhood and Intergenerational Trauma
Change vs. Tradition
God, Holiness, and Faith
Exclusion
Summary
Analysis
At K.D. and Arnette’s wedding, the guest preacher Reverend Pulliam delivers a sermon about love. He claims that people do not automatically deserve love—they must earn it, just as they must earn a connection to God. He insists, “God is not interested in you.” Anna Flood believes Pulliam is trying to undermine Reverend Misner, who is officiating the wedding. She wonders if Pulliam might even be targeting Anna herself, suggesting that her love for Misner is inadequate because she has aligned with the radical young people rather than Pulliam’s conservative vision of God. Still, she doesn’t understand why Pulliam would disrupt the wedding, a union between the long-combative Fleetwoods and Morgans.
Pulliam’s sermon provides a religious framing for the long-standing argument over the Oven. He subscribes to Zechariah Morgan’s conservative “narrow path to righteousness,” and he believes that only the righteous deserve the love of God and their fellow humans. Anna recognizes the ulterior motives behind Pulliam’s sermon, indicating her intelligence––as well as the fact that Pulliam might not fit his own narrow definition of righteousness, since he is using a holy moment to push his own agenda.
Themes
Pulliam’s sermon enrages Misner, who considers the words a “poison” to the tenuous harmony the families have achieved in the wake of Arnette losing her pregnancy. He does not trust himself to verbally respond to Pulliam, so instead he removes the cross from the wall and holds it before him for the guests to see. Misner considers the basic human instincts at play within organized religion, and he concludes that Pulliam’s version of Christianity reduces it to a choiceless religion dedicated to groveling before authority. As Misner holds up the cross, he hopes the guests will understand that “not only is God interested in you; He is you.”
Though Misner is an outsider, he recognizes the precarious social landscape of Ruby and is outraged that Pulliam might disrupt a moment of peace. Misner believes that Christianity depends upon a personal, intimate relationship with God, which does not adhere to Pulliam’s language of authority and hierarchy. To assert this point, he lifts up the cross, the symbol of Christianity, as if to say that the religion itself is on his side.
Themes
In the uncomfortable silence as Misner holds the cross, K.D. grows frustrated that people are using his wedding to further their own agendas. He just wants the event to end so that he can join the married and land-owning men of Ruby, and so that he can rid his thoughts of “that Gigi bitch.” Though he pursued Gigi for years, she never returned his affection, and finally his uncles pulled K.D. under their control. Arnette, meanwhile, struggles to understand why reuniting with K.D. has not fulfilled her when “he was all she knew about her self.”
K.D. and Arnette’s different understandings of their marriage emphasizes the power imbalance in their relationship––and, more broadly, in most of the traditional marriages in Ruby. K.D. is marrying Arnette not due to any interest in her, but to increase his status and save face after Gigi rejected him. Arnette, though, is devoted to K.D. She has been raised in Ruby’s patriarchal tradition, and she has no sense of self without relationship to a man.
Themes
An irritated Billie Delia stands at the altar as a bridesmaid. She doubts that the wedding will end the conflict in Ruby, since the root of that conflict is not the division between the Fleetwoods and the Morgans—it is the disobedience of Ruby’s women and children.
After several women in the previous chapter asserted their concern for the missing Billie Delia, she appears at the wedding, full of disdain for its proceedings. She understands the troubles at the center of Ruby’s community, which she knows come from more than fighting between families. The men of Ruby structured the community around the assumption they would always control the women and children. Now that this assumption has been challenged, the community is fracturing.
Themes
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Billie Delia recalls a childhood incident that shaped the rest of her life. When she is still too young to regularly wear underwear, Billie Delia rides on the back of Nathan DuPres’s prize-winning horse. One day, she sees him riding toward her, so she takes off her Sunday panties to prepare for a ride. Billie Delia’s mother beats her for this, and though Billie Delia doesn’t understand why, the beating instills a sense of shame in her. Billie Delia gains a reputation as promiscuous, even though she is a virgin and her best friend Arnette is not.
The incident with the horse emphasizes how patriarchal systems force sexuality and shame upon young girls. The toddler-aged Billie Delia has no idea what sex is when she takes off her underwear, but conventions of modesty and resentment of female sexuality render the incident scandalous, rather than the innocent act of a child. This kind of public shaming has no basis in truth; Arnette’s reputation is untarnished despite her teen pregnancy, while Billie Delia is considered immoral and promiscuous despite never having sex.
Themes
Billie Delia loathes K.D. for his indifference to Arnette and the way he frequently flirts with others behind her back. Billie Delia knows about his love for Gigi, because after a vicious fight with Billie Delia’s mother, Billie Delia lived for a time at the Convent. Her time there changed her. She has come to Arnette’s wedding out of loyalty to her friend, but once it is over, Billie Delia will move out of Ruby. She would leave Oklahoma entirely if she wasn’t in love with a pair of brothers in town.
Billie Delia’s troubled relationship with her mother stems from her childhood scandal. Instead of allying with Billie Delia out of motherly love or solidarity as a fellow woman, Billie Delia’s mother punished her for an incident Billie Delia did not understand. Billie Delia has since come to resent both her mother and Ruby itself, and she is one of the few Ruby residents who feels no loyalty toward the town.
Themes
Steward watches Misner with uncharacteristic calmness, pondering the crosses he has seen borne by white supremacists, murderers, and other individuals who don’t adhere to Christianity’s values. He believes Misner won’t prove his point by holding up a cross because “a cross [is] no better than the bearer.” Deek lacks his brother’s patience, and he remains tense even when Misner lowers the cross and begins the ceremony. Beside her husband, Soane regrets the secret invitation to the wedding reception that she extended to the women at the Convent.
Steward, like the other residents of Ruby, is a Christian, but he does not ascribe the same inherent value to faith that more religious characters do. He recognizes that faith in God does not necessarily dictate morality, and his connection between crosses and white supremacists calls to mind the Ku Klux Klan, a hate group that burns crosses as a form of racial intimidation.
Themes
The wedding reception starts calmly, with Steward and Deek maintaining control through the silent conversations they eternally conduct with each other. Soon, however, Mavis drives up in her Cadillac, bringing with her Gigi, Seneca, and a girl the townspeople don’t recognize (Pallas). Unlike the other guests, they wear makeup and revealing clothing. When they find no alcohol at the party, the women wander to the Oven and play Otis Redding music so they can dance. Reverend Pulliam watches them with distaste, intent on preventing them from corrupting Ruby.
The arrival of the Convent women disrupts Steward and Deek’s control over the party. The women do not disrespect any townspeople or actively prevent them from enjoying the party, but the very presence of these women upsets the status quo. Women in Ruby are not supposed to wear revealing clothing, drink alcohol, or dance to R&B music. Reverend Pulliam’s concern that the women will corrupt the community highlights the men’s fear of the Convent women. They do not only confront Ruby with alternative modes of womanhood—they might also encourage women in Ruby to adopt these modes.
Themes
Misner stays away from the reception to pray about his behavior at the ceremony, which he regrets. He doesn’t know if his anger is directed at Pulliam, the broader white supremacist backlash to the Civil Rights Movement, or Ruby itself. Misner fears that the townspeople are beginning to redirect their distrust of outsiders to their own neighbors, and he wonders how much he has contributed to that. He questions why the townspeople, who are so proud of the courage of their forefathers, refuse to take action themselves by joining the national fight against racism. His prayer yields no answers, so he is on his way to join the reception when he sees the Cadillac speeding back toward the Convent.
Misner is Ruby’s only tangible connection to the national fight against white supremacy; while this appeals to some of Ruby’s young people, it also alienates Misner further from many people in Ruby, who prefer to avoid white supremacy rather than challenge it. Misner is aware of his status as an outsider, and he worries that the presence of a genuine outsider has made the townspeople even more wary of their neighbors than they were before his arrival. His observation that the citizens of Ruby are starting to turn on one another emphasizes the self-destructive nature of building a community with exclusion as its core value.
Themes
The Convent women drive away after being expelled from the party. None of them are embarrassed or angry at being asked to leave. In fact, Pallas Truelove, the newest member of the group, is relieved. She came to the Convent only two days ago and has yet to speak to anyone. She remembers seeing a “crazy woman” back home in California, and though Pallas was wealthy and happy, she felt a connection to the woman. As Mavis and Gigi bicker about K.D., Seneca notices that Pallas is shivering despite the heat, and she hugs the girl to her breast.
The Convent women’s calm reaction to being asked to leave the reception indicates a level of self-awareness and self-acceptance. They know that most citizens of Ruby dislike them, and that dislike does not damage the women’s self-esteem. They are their own contained unit; Mavis and Gigi only grow irritated when they argue with each other about K.D., while neither had any reaction to the behavior of K.D. himself. Pallas remains on the fringes of the group, but Seneca’s kindness to her indicates that the Convent has welcomed Pallas.
Themes
In a flashback, Pallas prepares to elope with her boyfriend Carlos, a sculptor who works as a janitor at her high school. She easily evades her father, whose successful career as a lawyer to Black entertainers keeps him too busy to notice her. She and Carlos plan to stay with Pallas’s estranged mother, Dee Dee, a painter. Dee Dee welcomes the couple to her home in New Mexico, and Carlos feels at home in Dee Dee’s artistic community. He grows closer to Dee Dee, and one night Pallas discovers the two of them having sex.
Pallas lacks a relationship with her distant father and estranged mother, so she is thrilled when an older man expresses interest in her. When she and Carlos plan to elope, Pallas goes to her mother, seeking a mother-daughter bond. Instead, her mother and boyfriend both betray Pallas at the same time, leaving her with no meaningful emotional connections.
Themes
Back in the present, Mavis and Gigi’s argument about the wedding escalates into a physical fight that forces Mavis to park the car. After they exhaust themselves, Mavis wordlessly continues driving, and they return to the Convent. Gigi tends to her wounds and recalls a protest she attended in Oakland that turned violent when police arrived. At the protest, she witnessed the shooting of a little Black boy. Mavis also cleans herself up. She notes that she enjoyed the excitement of the fight in a way that her previous self––who couldn’t defend herself against Frank or her children––never could. Still, she hears Merle and Pearl inside the Convent.
Stepping away from her roles as wife and mother has allowed Mavis to become her own fully-realized individual. Nevertheless, thoughts about her children and the mother she could have been to them continue to haunt her. Gigi, meanwhile, struggles with memories of her own past as an activist, which exposed her to the horrors of police brutality. Gigi is not a maternal figure, but she clings to the memory of the dead boy in much the same way Mavis clings to the memory of her dead children.
Themes
Seneca brings Pallas to meet Connie in Connie’s dark bedroom beside the wine cellar. The other women have noted Connie’s persistent unhappiness, but she immediately extends warmth and sympathy to Pallas, who reveals what has happened to her in a stumbling, out-of-order narrative. She first explains who helped her after the incident that left her traumatized: a Native American family picked her up on the side of the road and brought her to the clinic where Billie Delia works. Billie Delia then brought Pallas to the Convent. Pallas’s shame prevents her from explaining the “nightmare event” that forced her to hide in a lake. She is haunted by the voices of men jeering at her through the water.
Despite Connie’s personal struggles, the other women still look to her as their leader, and she has not lost her ability to make lost souls feel welcome. Pallas struggles to get past her trauma and shame, but she shares what she is able to with Connie. Her recollection of hiding in a lake from a group of men suggests that she suffered or narrowly avoided a sexual assault, but her description of the events is too fractured to define specifically what happened to her.
Themes
The women, minus Connie, share dinner and then dance together before going to bed. Pallas, who sleeps on the sofa, hears a knock at the door and answers it to find Arnette, still in her wedding dress and holding a slice of wedding cake. She says that now that she is married, she can take her child back. When the women turn her away, she screams at them and bites Pallas. Later, Mavis explains to Pallas that Connie delivered Arnette’s baby at the Convent, but Arnette didn’t want it. The baby died, and Arnette accused the women of killing it.
Arnette’s breakdown at the Convent reflects a confused motherly instinct. Ruby’s obsession with reputation and a woman’s honor convinced Arnette that she could not be a mother before she was married, so she repressed her love for the child until it would be socially acceptable for her to feel that love. Patriarchal expectations of an unmarried woman’s virginity undermined the natural bond between Arnette and her baby.
Themes
As the women start to return to bed, Gigi asks Pallas about her mother. Pallas reveals Dee Dee’s full name is Divine, and Gigi starts calling Pallas by that name. Mavis promises to help her call her father the next day. Mavis then hears Merle and Pearl giggling, and she takes this to mean that they like Arnette’s baby, who has joined them.
Gigi deciding to call Pallas by her mother’s name highlights the complex relationships between women and their mothers that the story explores, as Pallas takes on an element of Dee Dee’s identity. Mavis’s belief that the Convent is haunted by lost children further emphasizes the impact of motherhood on the Convent women, as they have left behind roles of partner and mother but are still haunted by the children they will never have.
Themes
